High Speed Rail in the USA - Menu Page

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Understanding High Speed Rail and Why we in the USA need it, now..

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High-Speed Rail and OUR Tourism Industry:

High Speed Rail:To many High Speed Rail (HSR) is a 'dirty' word and a waste of taxpayer
money, and to
some extent history has played a part in this type of thinking. We had
nationwide rail
systems that were run by private industry, and many failed; the result was that
we, the
taxpayers, purchased the failed systems and created Amtrak, which to many is
also a failed
system. What many do not know, is that where Amtrak owns its right-of-way, the
Northeast, the trains are making a profit, it is mainly where Amtrak does not
own its right
of way, but rents time on private freight tracks, and therefore is limited to
slow speed,
freight line schedules, and one-way only each day tracks, is where Amtrak is NOT
making
money.

Under several presidents and state governors, we are slowly updating tracks to
eliminate
delays, allow double height
passenger cars, etc., so that we are obtaining 'semi-HSR', at
about 120 to 140 mph. This is good, but it is NOT what we need, we need 220 to
300
mph rails and trains that run on electric so that we can use Solar, Wind, and
other
commercially available electric sources as a means of power, thus getting rid of
fuel oils as
the primary power. Magnetic Levitation
would be the best as it can power single car trains with a minimum use of
electric, and there are no trucks (wheels) and rails to wear out, little to no
vibration, speeds up to 500 mph, and track sections manufactured in local
factories.

Tourism:The United States of America is one of the most visited destinations for
worldwide
tourism, and most of the foreign tourist spend a thousand or more dollars on
airfare, rental
cars, motels, restaurants, entry tickets, gifts, etc., when visiting. The vast
majority of
these 'foreign' tourist are from countries like Japan, China, and Europe that
has had U.S.A.
designed (originally) HSR systems, and therefore are familiar with 'riding the
rails'. These tourist are on strict timetables and do NOT have the time to drive
many hours or days between U.S.A. tour locations, this is especially true of the
American Southwest, where our
National Parks (NPS) are few and far between.

Our airlines cater to our Business communities, and NOT to our tourist industry,
therefore
places like Tucson, Benson, Willcox, Tombstone, Sierra Vista, and Douglas,
Arizona are NOT fully or at all served by most direct flight airlines, or any
airline. There is Amtrak rail and there was in the past rail services to these
popular tourist locations, but in most instances
no longer. A HSR People Mover System
(HSRPMS) would open up these areas to tens
of thousands of additional American and Foreign Tourist, thus bringing in
millions of extra
dollars to the local economies each year.

There are 'tourist' loops throughout the U.S.A., i.e., the Grand Circle Loop
of the
American Southwest that covers the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Bryce
Canyon
National Park, the Grand Canyon (North Rim), Zion National Park, and Lake
Powell.
Other nearby attractions include Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,
Coral
Pink Sand Dunes State Park, the privately owned Moqui Cave, and the largest
animal
sanctuary in the United States, Best Friends Animal Society.

Or, the great National Park to Park highway loop that was created decades
ago and went to
Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park,
Mount
Rainier National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park,
Yosemite National Park, General Grant National Park (now part of Kings Canyon),
Sequoia National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Mesa
Verde
National Park.

REF: Wikipedia...

We are as a country building highways that will in less than 40 years become
potholes and
need to be totally renewed as a cost of tens of trillions of dollars. These
highways will be
near empty unless we convert a hundred million vehicles from fuel oil to
electric or other
non-oil fuel. We are already seeing fuel prices rise as tens of millions of
foreigners gain
wealth and use the limited amounts of oil that is available to the world. We are
seeing
airlines cut routes, increase numbers of seats, and increase prices to the point
that many
Americans can no longer afford to fly.

Tourism is a major, and may become our only, profitable industry and we are
neglecting it
by not making it easy to get to the places that people want to see. We should
turn our
attention from a business to business (B2B) HSR system to a Grand Circle, or
National
Park to Park System HSRPMS, that is powered by wind and solar along its full
route.

Paying for this:The beneficiaries of these HSRPMS systems will be private industry, the
tourist industry,
and our taxpayers via the state and national park systems, and Amtrak. There
will be less
traffic and thus wear on our roads (DOT savings), more people visiting our parks
(NPS
profits), less vehicle pollution (EPA savings), less forest damage (USDA
savings), easier
tracking of foreign nationals (HS savings), and much more. Thus, each of these
departments can and should contribute a portion of their budgets to the HSRPMS
systems.

Add to this the funds from private investors, the manufactures of locomotives,
solar and
wind energy products, rolling stock passenger cars, and the local Chamber of
Commerce,
etc., we should be able to finance this without additional taxpayer monies.
There will be a
fee for the passage on the HSRPMS, and this can be as little as $0.05 per mile;
which for
the National Park to Park route of nearly 6,000 miles would generate $300.00 per
passenger minimum, naturally there would be 'upgrades or adult pricing' that can
bring this to
$900 or more per rider. The $300 minimum is an affordable price for seniors and
children
as opposed to the the nearly $2,700 that it would cost to rent a vehicle or
drive one's own.

The Plus:For a person to drive 6,000 miles around the National Park to Park System
route would
take some 100 hours or 12.5 days at 8 hours per day, therefore it will take 25
days to see
all the parks, and additional hundreds for food, gasoline, insurances, and
motels.

The same trip can be done in 12 days with people spending 5 to 8 hours per day
seeing the
parks, and sleeping or riding on the HSRPMS the remainder of the days. Sleeping
berths
can be available at $50 per night in addition to the normal coach seating
prices, if a person
does not want to spend overnight at a local motel or resort.

This HSRPMS system is the solution to many of our problems, it would put hundreds of
thousands to work throughout the U.S.A., it would bring tens of
billions of touring and tax
dollars into the U.S.A., it would give Americans a better and more energy
efficient way to
see America, and it would cut down pollution, traffic accidents, insurance
costs, and
highway replacement and maintenance.

Talk to your Congress, and let's see what we can accomplish, especially
realizing that this
type of system can be used in most of the country to tie together our natural
resources, our
park systems, and our tourism industry.

A New Hyperloop Test Track Is Being Built In Las Vegas

"Hyperloop Technologies announced on Monday that it will start building a test
track at the Apex Industrial Park in the City of North Las Vegas, Nevada."

"If you’ve never heard of the Hyperloop before, it’s basically superfast tube
transportation system. Using tunnels that have all the air sucked out them, pods
slip up and down the tubes at high speeds. The company hopes the pods will
eventually be able to accelerate to over 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) per hour.
The system boasts a particularly eco-friendly design, using only electricity
from renewable sources."

"The idea was originally envisioned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2013. However, he
allowed it to be taken up by entrepreneurs to be developed. Two separate
companies have picked up the baton since then – Hyperloop Technologies and
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. This latest project is from the former,
but confusingly, that’s not the same company that is building the proposed track
in California." Read more on this exciting technology at:

Definitions

Fact Sheets - How High Speed Rail helps the economy

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